"So what's his name?" Jessica asked as the two girls stood currying their horses after practice.

Evelyn looked at her friend for a moment and then responded with: "Did you fall out there when I wasn't looking? This is Stormy, he's only been my horse for oh, 8 years or so." Evelyn placed a loving hand on the dappled gray's neck, which she had just made smooth and silky with the curry comb.

"I know Stormy. I was referring to the boy whom is stealing your affections away from Stormy."

Evelyn had moved on to combing out Stormy's mane and she pulled a little harder then she meant. The horse stamped in disapproval and his ears pinned back, giving the universal sign of an angry horse.

"Sorry," Evelyn muttered to the horse and tried to calm him down, hoping that Jessica would be distracted and drop the subject.

"Come on, Evelyn." She said after a few minutes. "You're my best friend, I know when you're keeping a secret. And you have that same dopey expression you had when you dated Adam, so what's his name?"

"Sirius."

"Yeah, I'm being serious! Tell me!"

"No," Evelyn smiled, remembering what Sirius had told her about constantly hearing jokes about his name. "His name is Sirius."

"Seriously?"

Evelyn rolled her eyes and began to pack up her horse's things.

"Sorry," Jessica laughed. "it's just...where the hell did you pick up a guy named Sirius?"

"At work."

"I knew it. I knew you were working as a prostitute."

"Shut up," Evelyn said but both girls were laughing. "He's working on a motorcycle across the street and comes in the restaurant a lot." Especially lately but she didn't have to tell Jessica that.

"He's named Sirius and he has a motorcycle? You sure know how to pick them."

"Pick what?" A third girl asked as she walked into the stable, taking off her riding helmet. Beth. Evelyn didn't much like most of the girls from the stable but Beth was particularly bad. Beth's hair tumbled out of her helmet in almost perfect waves. Evelyn knew her own hair was probably in spikes from her helmet.

"Haircuts," Evelyn answered knowing Beth's hair was her pride and joy. She would have fainted if someone suggested she cut it.

Beth looked like she wanted to laugh. Instead she let out a little "hem" noise and said: "It's really too bad. You had such pretty hair before."

"It's still pretty," Evelyn said a little defensively.

Beth let out a short laugh and Jessica rolled her eyes towards Evelyn over Beth's shoulder before saying: "Yeah it is. I know Evelyn's boyfriend thinks so."

Evelyn appreciated the fact that Jessica had defended her. But judging by how quickly Beth spun around to stare at her, any mention of boyfriend had been a bad idea. Not that Sirius was her boyfriend. He was just...there.

"He's not my boyfriend," Evelyn said quickly.

"You'll him bring to my party Saturday night, won't you?" Beth asked.

"What party?" Evelyn asked.

"Beth's birthday party that I invited you to." Jessica said in a voice that clearly said 'I forgot to tell you, pretend like you know' "We will all be there. Me, evelyn, and her boyfriend."

"Great." Beth said with a fake smile. "Can't wait."

As soon as Beth left the stable, Evelyn rounded on Jessica.

"We're not going."

"Oh, come on! I want to meet this biker boy."

"And so does Beth! She only invited me so she can make fun of me."

"No, she really did invite you. But that was back when you were skipping and I just forgot to tell you. Besides, it will be fun to see Beth freak because of your boyfriend. Is he hot?"

"He's not my boyf-"

"Is he hot?"

"Well, yeah but-"

"Then I don't see the problem. Beth will be jealous. I'll get to meet him. You'll be happy. See? No problem."

But there was a problem to Evelyn. A big problem. Since the night she and Sirius had kissed, they had been spending more time together. But instead of getting to know him more, she felt like she was knowing less. Their activities were limited to him visiting her at work, or she would keep him company while he worked on his bike. Which was a good thing because sometimes the simplest tasks, like opening a paint can were completely perplexing to him. Evelyn had come to the conclusion that he probably just lived a very sheltered life. He said his family was old-fashioned.

Sometimes Evelyn and Sirius would go for walks together. They would talk but Sirius would avoid the simplest questions. If Evelyn insisted upon it he would find a way to distract her, usually by kissing her, which was a welcome interruption. She knew she should be somewhat offended but it was hard to think of anything at those moments but him. And Evelyn did think of him a lot. The more time she spent with him, the more she liked him. Despite his oddities. But although Evelyn found these endearing, like when she had sent a letter to her friend who was spending the summer in France, and Sirius had been amazed by the post office (foreign mail was delightful, wasn't it? At least that's how Evelyn comforted herself.) Though Evelyn found little things like these strange but cute, she had a feeling girls like Beth would just find them strange. And that strangeness would mean that there was something wrong with Evelyn. Sure he was handome but Evelyn's boyfriend was defective.

Was he her boyfriend? What made someone your boyfriend? Kissing? Spending time together? Meeting your friends? None of this mattered now though. What mattered was that Sirius, whatever he was to Evelyn, wasn't going to be her little secret much longer.

Evelyn was avoiding the inevitable for as long as possible. She had gotten good at deciphering his general mood, and his matched hers: Not too happy. So Evelyn tried her hardest to cheer Sirius up. Mainly by snogging. It seemed to be working but finally Evelyn pulled away and asked:

"Can you do me a big favor?"

Sirius hesitated when he heard this. A favor for anyone was usually a big deal. What would evelyn consider a big favor? He wished they were still kissing. He wasn't in the mood to talk, not tonight. Maybe he would of spoken to James but he couldn't talk to Evelyn. She was there though, and she smelled nice and her fingers seemed to trace some invisible picture on the back of his neck and that was all he needed.

"Depends on the favor,"

This wasn't the answer Evelyn wanted but it wasn't that bad.

"I know this girl and she's having a party Saturday and she...I mean I want you to come with me."

"You're inviting me to a party?"

"Yeah" Evelyn said unsure of what he thought of that.

"And that's a favor?"

Evelyn saw Sirius smiling and felt a weight lift off her shoulders. He was fine with it. Of course he was, why wouldn't he be? Evelyn had been overreacting.

"That's really more of an honor, going to a party with me. I love parties. I'd be thrilled to."

Sirius was thrilled with having something to do, somewhere to go. His cousins were spending the weekend and the further away from home he was, the better. Regulus's threat of telling their cousin about Sirius's muggle activities was still ringing in his ears. He didn't want to see her. He didn't want to see anybody. Partying with Evelyn was the furthest thing from a favor and with that he leaned in and they began to kiss again.

All too soon, Sirius was walking Evelyn home. Hand in hand, they walked by the music store that they had been kicked out of. Evelyn slowed down and stared at the guitar in the window.

"Returning to the scene of the crime is never a good idea," Sirius joked.

"Yeah," Evelyn said absentmindedly still thinking of the guitar and how she longed to own it.

"Why don't you buy it?" Sirius asked, his head tilted to the side slightly.

"I can't go back in there."

"Sure you can. Just go alone," Sirius smirked. "I think I was the problem, not you."

"Yeah, one day," Evelyn said quietly, speeding up to put the guitar far behind them.

"Why are you putting it off?"

"Haven't you ever done that? You get an idea or want something but you put it off because it's special and it needs time. It needs to be right. "

"Not really. When I get an idea, I just run with it. If it's right, It's right. It doesn't matter if it happens now or later." Sirius was much more action then thought.

"But some things need time. And planning. Or else it could go really wrong."

"Things go wrong in the world no matter what. Even if you plan or take your time." Sirius said darkly. He was thinking of the state of things in the wizarding world with the rise of dark magic. "Isn't it better to be happy and doing what you want despite all the bad stuff? It makes it easier to get through it."

Sirius was now thinking of his family. He didn't waste his time trying to make them happy because there were things going on that were much bigger than them. In the scope of things did it really matter if he was gryffindor or slytherin?

Evelyn was considering Sirius's words. She was thinking of their meaning but mostly she was thinking of the fact that they came from him. Sirius had surprised her a few times before like this. Sometimes, he got this dark expression on his face and he said something beyond his years. Evelyn had the distinct impression that he had seen or known things that she didn't know. There was something dark there. Though Evelyn often thought she didn't know him or anything about him, she was wrong. Did it matter where he went to school or what his parents did for a living when she knew what he cared about deep down?

Evelyn suddenly felt silly for caring so much about what the girls at the party would think of him. It didn't matter what they thought. All that mattered was what Evelyn thought. And Evelyn was thinking this: how disappointed she was that they were in front of her house and that they had to say goodbye and how she was going to kiss him goodnight.

Little bit of a filler chapter, but it happens. Thanks for reading!